'Implement Sachar Committee recommendations'

New Delhi, July 18: The Communist Party of India today made a strong case for implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendations for uplift of Muslims, saying it was necessary in order to achieve all-round development of the country.

''There may be 39 Indians in the international list of billionaires and Ambanis may have become trillionaires, but unless India's economic growth benefits accrue to to all sections, economic development does not make any sense,'' said veteran communist leader A B Bardhan at the Delhi state convention on Sachar Committee report, organised here.

He said poverty has been on the increase, contrary to Government figures.

Quoting a report by Mr Arjun Sengupta, Chairman of the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector, he said 78 per cent of the population live below the poverty line and Muslims comprise over 82 per cent of them, apart from 84 per cent Dalits.

''Unless all parts of the body are fit, there should be no claim for 9.4 per cent growth etc,'' he said.

He admitted that the Left parties with just 61 MPs were not able to weild much power, as was the general expectation. ''We matter only when there is voting and there is no voting every day. They (the Government) take so many executive decisions on appointments etc without our participation,'' he said.

''Even if we withdraw support, but is there any alternative?'' he asked. He said by August after all the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections are over, the Left parties would sit and decide on their next course of action. ''We have to decide on our stand, as 2009 is not too far away,'' he said.

Denouncing the BJP's terming the Sachar Committee recommendations ''appeasement of Muslims'' by the Congress, Mr Bardhan said if because of ''appeasement'' then why are Muslims in such a bad state after 60 years of Independence.

UNI